VUSSC/Mauritius BC/News/Serracino Inglott

Meeting people from so many different countries and working with them towards one aim has been a great learning experience. Small countries like ours all share in a common pool of problems and needs. Leveraging technology to overcome these is good, but doing it together is great! Being an advocate of Open Source and Open Content, this experience has given me greater hope, and expectation, of this method of developent. My contribution has been mainly of a technical kind, and I have become truly aware of some of the problems some small states face in using IT.

I have become more convinced that in order to overcome some of these issuse we have to take on board the Open Content (and Open Source) Philosophy. The 'open way' depends on a community effort, and this experience has been essential in seeding such a community. COL has shown great insight in bringing us together, for this we owe them. Now it is up to us to see this adventure through.

We are breaking new ground. And there will certainly be set-backs, but the opportinities presented cannot be left to pass us by. We are not only scientist-guinea-pigs (for we are testing new technologies but also contributing to their development) on the technological side of things; we are also pioneering a new way of thinking. Convincing ourselves and others of the latter is the really hard part.

Innovation comes at a price. I belive that our group has cemented a conviction that this innovation is a worthwhile investment. Spreading this conviction to all the other governments/institutions who had commited themselves VUSSC is now essential, as these three weeks have shown us that the task at hand is gargantuan. Luickly, we can share the load.

--Phsi 10:22, 22 August 2006 (CEST)